


Healing pods don't always heal

by Thesmolwriter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blood, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Healing, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Good Friend, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt Being Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge | Katie Holt Being a Little Shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25358248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thesmolwriter/pseuds/Thesmolwriter
Summary: Pidge decides to reprogram the healing pods so that they are able to detect mental and physical conditions, what does this mean for the two boys hiding their mental illnesses? Does this bring them closer?
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 71





	1. Pidge decides to be a nosy bitch

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my first fan fiction and I would really like any comments that can make me better. Also this idea was probably done before I'm not trying to steal from anyone lol. Also this switches POV every chapter so who ever POV it's in will be in the chapter title.

“Ok, I was doing some coding on the healing pods and…” Pidge said, as she started typing onto her laptop, “I think that they should be able to handle more than just broken bones and scraps.”

“What did you program them to do?” Shiro said, obviously interested. 

“Well, now the pods are able to handle reading and testing hormone levels in the body and can detect stuff like mental illness, physical conditions, etc. etc...” Pyro responded, “obviously I’m going to need a few more days in order to make sure everything is working properly and,” Pidge looked up at the group in front of her, “...All of you are going to need to go and test it.”

Pidge received different responses from the group, while hunk, Shiro, Allura, and Coran looked fine with it. However, Pidge could see the worried looks coming from Lance and Keiths faces.

“Uh no way.” Keith said obviously pissed, “There is no way you are looking in my brain.”

“Keith,” Shiro said while giving Keith a sympathetic look, “We all need to test it, this is so she is able to have a baseline of how your health is.”

“Shiro is right,” Pidge said, not looking up from her laptop, “If you end up having some deadly disease I can just compare the hormone levels and figure out what is out of balance. Then Coran can figure out what is actually wrong with you based on his...predictions.”

Coran obviously looked excited to learn about humans and their bodies (man Coran why am I making him weird lol), buit Pidge couldn’t get the looks that Keith and Lance had given her out of her head.

She had known Lance for years now, he was her best friend at the garrison along with Hunk and, well, he had gone through some shit. Losing his abuela, having intense anxiety attacks that Pidge knew how to calm down like she knows the back of her hand, and of course coming up into space, losing his entire family, not being able to take medication, and the list goes on and on. Pidge would be lying if the main reason she reprogramed the pods was to keep track of Lance's mental health, but she was also just curious. I mean Lance was freakishly good at hiding his feelings around other people and she couldn’t take it anymore.

But Keith on the other had, Pidge felt like she knew nothing about Keith. She knew the bare minimum of what Keith was like, he trained and was a great fighter, he was close to Shiro and was reserved. But she knew that he had probably been through hell as a child. Not that Pidge had been told but she could tell. Staying quiet, not showing any emotions, the fliching, who knows what this guy could have gone through in his childhood. She felt bad, and she wanted to help. So she will do what she does best, and that is being nosey.

I mean it's not going to hurt anyone, right?


	2. Shiro being a good brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith deals with the fact that everyone was going to know his problems.

“Keith?”

Keith looked at the door that the muffled voice was coming through. He sighed and got up from the bed. Before he could even get up from his bed the door was being slid open by Shiro.  
“Haven’t you heard of knocking, Shiro?” Keith said.

“You and I both know that we are way past knocking,” Shiro said as he gave him a weird look.

“What is that face Shiro?” 

“I’m just checking that you’re ok with…” Shiro paused “you know…the pod situation?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Keith tried to close the door but before he could Shiro stepped into his room.

“Yes, you do.”

Keith sighed and walked back over to his bed and sat down. 

“What do you want, Shiro?”

“I want to make sure that you’re ok,” Shiro said quietly, as he sat down next to him.

“I’m fine,” Keith said maybe just a little too quickly.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.”

“I’ve known you for years Keith I can tell that you are not ok with this…”

“Shiro!” Keith said loudly, cutting him off mid-sentence. Shiro just stared at him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. “Listen I get it.” Keith said in a calmer one.”We’re technically brothers and you’re the leader of Voltron and you want to make sure I’m ok but honestly right I don’t want to talk about it. Alright?”

Shiro looked at him sympathetically, “I understand.” Shiro went to stand up.

“Just please give me a minute to process what is going to happen.”

“Ok” Shiro turned around about to leave when he paused. “You know I’m here for you, right?” He said turning back around.

Keith looked up at him. “I know.”

Shiro stepped forward and placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder and looked at him. “Whenever you are ready to talk I’ll be here to listen.” Keith didn’t say anything, he just shook his head. Shiro sighed, took his hand off of Keith’s shoulder, and walked out of the room. 

Once the door was closed and Shiro's footsteps could be heard walking away from his door he let out a breath.

Keith sighed and flopped back down on his bed. Shiro was just looking out for him, he knew that, but Keith didn't know how to feel about what was going to happen over the next couple of days. The only thing he knew was he was going to be put in a pod and his issue would be put on display for everyone in the ship to see. He had spent years hiding the depression, anxiety, and the newly formed PTSD, now his secret was going to be revealed just because Pidge wanted to tinker with the pods. Everyone could probably guess that Keith was a little fucked up by the way he acted and interacted with everyone on the ship, but he just wanted to make sure not everyone in the ship knew about his problems. Especially Lance, definitely Lance.

Lance was, well, his rival, they hated each other and have since they met at the garrison. I mean Keith didn’t hate Lance but Lance hated Keith. If Lance knew about any of his problems he would use it against him. He would compare his nearly perfect levels to Keiths extremely messed up ones and boast about how much better he is and how he didn’t deserve to piolet a lion. This is the last thing Keith would want, Lance, his crush, his rival, to know that he was extremely fucked up and then degrade him, and crush any hope for being his friend. This was going to be a disaster. He had barely kept it together during mind melds, now everyone was going to know. Everyone was going to know his flaws, his weakness, his pain. And he couldn’t stop it.

Keith felt the tears start to fall out of the corner of his eyes, so he got up, harshly wiped his tears away, threw his jacket on, and went to go train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!! Thank you guys so much for the Kudos!!!! I didn't think that this story would actually get any traction lol. More coming!! Next update will be 07/23/20 at 9am! I’ve been really busy so sorry about not updating but trust me the next chapter will be much longer.


	3. Bonk Trigger Warning

Morning everyone, I am really glad that this story has been gaining traction. I want to let you know that the next chapter deals with self-harm, suicide, blood, and other sensitive topics, this is a trigger warning. If you do not feel comfortable with these topics, I recommended that you skip the next chapter. I have had this written for a while and I was debating on whether or not I wanted to post this, I do, I think that it is a great chapter but I don't want to get canceled lmao. Please if you are struggling I want you to know that I am here for you and there are many others that are there for you. 800-273-8255 This is a hotline number, don't be scared to ask for help. I love you all :D I would miss you if you were gone. 

Now to the story.


	4. Keith is a good person, well, he is trying

Keith could feel the sweat drip down his back as he sliced through a training bot with ease.

“End training sequence,” Keith said to the machine.

Keith lifted the bottom of his black shirt and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He reached for his wrist, his hand felt the smooth skin on his wrist.

“Shit. I don’t have a hair tie.”

Keith sighed and picked up his jacket from the corner of the room and tossed it over his shoulder. As he walked out of the training deck and headed down the hall toward the kitchen. He could smell a sickly sweet smell. As he walked into the kitchen he could hear the chattering of three voices, well chattering of two, and the loud enthusiastic yelling of Lance.

“Oh my goodness Hunk these are delicious,” Lance said.

“Is that…”

“Keith!” Hunk said enthusiastically, “I made cinnamon rolls!”

“That’s great Hunk,” Keith said with a smile. “Hey, Pidge?”

“Yes?” Pidge said as she continued to look down as she typed on her laptop.

“Do you have a hair tie?”

Lances POV

“Yeah here,” Pidge said as she handed him a hair tie.

Oh my god. He's really going to put his hair up in a-- heputhishairupinaponytail.

Keith’s POV

“Much better,” Keith said. “Can I have one Hunk?”

“Of course!”

“How did you even make these. I’m pretty sure they don’t have icing in space?” Keith questioned.

“They don’t, obviously, but I was talking to the locals on-”

Keith dozed off as Hunk went on about how he made his creation using random ingredients that he got from different planets. Pidge was currently typing away on her laptop or the Altean equivalent of it. Next to Pidge sat Lance, For some reason, Lance seemed flustered and he didn’t look well.

“Are you ok Lance?” Keith said.

As he said that Lance turned a bright shade of red.

“Um… yeah no I’m completely fine I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Are you sure?” Keith said, raising an eyebrow, “You look red, are you getting sick?”

At this point Hunk and Pidge had started dying of laughter while Lance sat there like a confused puppy, his face turning a brighter red by the second. Keith sat there confused.

“Ok.” Pidge said, breathing deep trying to calm down from laughing, “I think that the healing pods are ready to test. Lance?”

“Uh, yeah?” Lance replied.

“Mind coming with me to see if the healing pods actually work?”

Lance’ POV

Lance could feel his heart rate pick up. His palms started sweating and he could feel his face start to flush.

“Uh… maybe later. Ok, see ya.” Lance said as he practically ran out the door. He could feel the three of them in the room staring at him as he ran out of the room, he knew that they were questioning him, questioning his behavior, but at the moment, he didn’t care. He could feel his chest begin to close and his body begins to panic. Once he was in his room he slammed his hand down on the scanner and locked the door. He took in a gasp of air, he could breathe again, for now. He knew it was inevitable, they were going to find out. He fell onto the bed and looked down at his hands, his arms more specifically, and traced his scars that were tracing up and down them.

There was a knock at the door interrupting his thoughts. 

“Lance,” Pidge said, muffled through the door, “Can I come in?”

Lance wiped his face and slowly got out of bed and made his way toward the door. He unlocked it and opened it to find a very concerning looking Pidge standing on the other side of it. Pidge just stared at him for a moment until she pushed past him and sat down on his bed. Lance followed her and plopped down on his bed.

“Lance, look at me,” Pidge said carefully, as if not to scare him. Lance looked up at the young girl that he came to befriend. “I’m doing this for you, you know that right?”

Lance was confused, “What do you mean by that?”

“I know you, Lance, as a friend I’ve known you for years now, and I know about the medication you took at the garrison. Listen, you don’t have to go in the pod if you want to, I can’t make you, But…”

“But?”

“I think that it will be good for you, you know? Hunk and I have been talking about it and we've noticed that you’ve become more distant and quiet, you’re not yourself and I know that you know that. Just please, we want to help you, everyone on the ship cares about you, Lance.” Pidge said as she placed a hand gently on his knee.

“What do you mean by that I’m fine!”, Lance said, shocked.

“Sure you are Lance,” Pidge said sarcastically. “Then there should be no problem going into the pod so I can read your brain.” She put emphasis on the 'read your brain' part as she said it in a stupid voice. That made Lance laugh.

“Ok,” Lance said after a moment with a sigh, “I’ll go in the stupid pod.”

“Yay!” 

Lance saw Pidge smile and get up off the bed with an exciting jump. 

“Well, what are you waiting for let's go!”

“This is worse than I thought Hunk,” Pidge said as she typed on her computer.  
Lance was currently in the healing pod unconscious as Hunk looked over Pidges shoulder to read the hormone levels that were coming from Lance. 

“We should probably get him out of the pod.” Hunk suggested as he made his way over to the pod Lance was currently in. Hunk reached over to the side of the pod however, the pod wouldn’t open. An alarm went off and Pidge quickly got up off the floor next to her computer and made her way over to the pod.

“Why isn’t it letting him out? If someone isn’t injured it should let them out.” Hunk said, confused.

“The pod is healing him,” Pidge said, after a moment of silence. 

“But he shouldn’t be hurt? It should let him out if there is nothing physically wrong with him.” Hunk said.

Pidge had a sudden realization.

“That little son of a-,” Pidge said under her breath as she quickly walked out of the room not waiting for Hunk. 

“Wait? Pidge! where are you going?” Hunk said running down the hall after her.

Pidge quickly walked down the hallway toward Lance's room and barged in. Quickly, she was making her way toward the bathroom and Hunk ran into Lance's room right behind her.  
Pidge started tearing apart the bathroom looking for something, she pulled open a drawer under the sink of the bathroom and found a towel covered in brown spots wrapped around something.

“Pidge what is that?” Hunk asked, confused.

Pidge slowly unwrapped the towel to reveal 3 small sharp metal objects and what looked like one of Keith’s knives in the towel. 

“Pidge, Is Lance hurting himself?” Hunk asked carefully.

“It looks like it. I fucking knew it too.” Pidge said as she sniffled, “When Keith asked me if I had seen his knife anywhere I had a gut feeling but I had trusted him you know, I never thought he would actually go through with it.”

“When did this start? I’m Lance's best friend I thought he would tell me if he was feeling down. Oh my god, this is all my fault Pidge I’m a horrible best friend.” Hunk said, he started to hyperventilate, he was confused.

“Hunk buddy, calm down, deep breaths.” Pidge said “It’s going to be ok. Lance started doing this a long time ago, I just, I never thought he would actually start doing it again.”

Pidge walked out of the bathroom, holding the items in her hands, and made her way to sit on Lance’s bed. Hunk followed suit and sat next to her, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders.

“It’s ok Pidge, we’re going to help him. What you’re doing with the pods is helping him.” Hunk said.

There was a knock on Lance’s door.

“Lance!” Keith said as he walked into the room, unaware that the two of them were in there. “You left your goddamn bayard in the training room again, seriously this is like the third ti- oh hey guys?”

“Oh um hi Keith.” Hunk said

“Oh hey, Keith! We were just looking for um…”

“Face masks in Lance's room.” Hunk said as he coughed.

“Yeah we wanted to um surprise Lance after he um… got out of the healing pod,” Pidge said with a fake smile as she quickly got up off the bed. Hunk followed suit as Pidge held the towel closely to her chest.

“You know that I’m not stupid right? I may be slightly oblivious but I know when someone is hiding something.” Keith said as he crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrow.

Pidge and Hunk just looked at each other and slowly Pidge took the cloth she was holding. Keith looked up at the two of them then back down at the pile. Keith walked forward and took the stuff in her hand and placed it down on the countertop of the bathroom.

“I should have known,” Keith said with a frown. “When my knife went missing I thought he had taken it, but, I never thought he would have other ones.”

“I don’t know what to do about this,” Pidge said quietly. Hunk currently had tears dripping down his face as he wrapped his arms around Pidge.

“The first thing we do is get rid of it,” Keith said. “Then we talk to Shiro.”

“I don’t think Shiro should know about this.” Hunk said, “I feel like this should just be a three of us thing.”

“Well, Lance doesn’t even know that we know,” Pidge said.

“I’m going to take the stuff, can you guys look for other objects,” Keith said toward Hunk and Pidge. They quickly nodded their heads and stepped out of the bathroom.

The search of Lance's room was quiet, though the occasional sniffle could be heard from Hunk. In total, they found three more blades and another knife that had been stored under the mattress.

“I don’t think that he should be left out of our sights for the next couple of days,” Pidge said.

“I agree.” Hunk said, “We should probably go check on him Pidge.” Pidge just nodded and headed out of the room as Hunk followed behind her.

Keith silently grabbed the knives and stuck them in his belt. Next, he threw the blades in the toilet and flushed them, and put the cloth back under the sink. He knew that there would be more blades in his room but that would be solved at a later date. He walked out of Lance's room into the hallway making his way toward the med bay.

**Author's Note:**

> There is more to come lol.


End file.
